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“Good idea.”
He handed her his phone, and in a couple of minutes, she said, “Carina, this is Lainie.” James listened while she went on to ask the woman to pull up the autopsy report. “No, I’m not kidding. Please.” Pause. “Yes, of course I’ll hang on. Thank you.”
She chewed on her bottom lip while she waited, and James smiled. He remembered her doing that from the first day he’d met her. Shehated waiting but could give the appearance of being at perfect peace in doing so. Except for the lip chewing. When she straightened, he tuned back in.
“What?” She met his gaze with a ferocious frown. “What do you mean you can’t find it? It was done at that hospital. It should be in the system. Can you look again?” She waited once more. “Still nothing? That’s just ... Okay, sorry, one more request. Can you check the night he was brought into the hospital.” She gave the date. “There should be medical records, and will you check to see if you can find a death certificate with vital records as well? It should be a quick search.” Another pause. Less than a minute later, she sighed. “Unbelievable.” She fell quiet, then said, “Okay, do you remember him? Adam Williams?” She shook her head at him. “I have a call in to Otis. Is he around? Uh-huh. Okay. Well, when he gets back, will you ask him to call me at this number? Thanks.” She hung up and looked at James, disbelief stamped on her pale features. “It’s not there. None of it. No autopsy report, no death certificate, no record of him being in the hospital, nothing. It’s gone.” She was repeating herself, her shock evident in her tone. “And Carina said she doesn’t remember Adam or doing an autopsy on him.” She frowned at him as though expecting him to make sense of the whole situation.
He had no answers, so he sat beside her and pulled her into a hug. She burrowed against him like she belonged there, her arms encircling his waist.
He tried not to notice the perfect fit and cleared his throat. “How is that possible? Thoughts?”
“I have no idea,” she murmured against his chest. “I can’t believe I don’t know who did his autopsy. I should know that, shouldn’t I?”
“Why would you know that?”
“I just ... think I should. There are only three options of who could have done it. Now I’m down to two since Carina didn’t.” She stilled. “But one of the MEs passed away about a year ago, so if it was him...”
“Right.”
“Could that be a coincidence?”
“The death of the ME who did Adam’s autopsy?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if it was him, then ... that would be weird to me in light of everything going on.”
“I agree.” She glanced at his phone. “Hopefully, Otis will get my message and he’ll call me soon.”
“What’s Otis like?”
“Old.” She laughed. A genuine chuckle James let wash over him. He loved her laugh. “He’s been at the hospital since about the sixth day of creation. I keep expecting him to retire any day now, but he’ll be able to tell me who did the autopsy. Bart Sheffield is the one who died in a car accident last year. If Otis didn’t do the autopsy, then Bart did it.”
“Guess we’ll know when we know.”
“I also think there’s more behind all of this than someone wanting me to believe Adam is still alive.”
“What do you mean?”
“Whoever is doing this wants to wipe out any trace of him ever being dead.”
Thirteen
But he was dead.He was.At the moment, she didn’t even care because being wrapped in James’ arms was a dream come true and she was never moving for the rest of her life if she could manage it.
She heard Steph’s voice calling out. “What’s taking you guys so long? We’re about ready to eat. You coming?” Steph’s eyes went wide as she popped her head out of the kitchen, and while Lainie knew how it looked, she was still relishing the moment. In fact, the words “go away” were on the tip of her tongue.
She bit them back and forced herself to pull out of the security of James’ embrace, instantly missing the brief, lovely moment of feeling perfectly safe, like nothing could touch her as long as his arms were around her. “Yes, of course. Thanks.” She’d better not ever let that happen again. Getting involved with a man was not in her future. Allowing herself to get close to James was nothing but a recipe for heartbreak. She was too messed up emotionally, carried too much baggage to place on another person. Her fingers crept to the necklace and she latched on to the little key. Her reminder.
Rats. Now the whole situation just felt awkward. “So—do I run over and see my house? What do I do now?”
He touched her cheek and sighed. “I know you’re concerned about your home. Firefighters are there, law enforcement, the works. Whydon’t we eat and wait to hear what’s going on. But for now, let them do their jobs.”
And just like that, the awkwardness was gone. “Okay. Fine.” She wasn’t sure she could eat a bite, but she’d sit with them and do her best. “More importantly, will you let me know when you hear something about Savannah?”
“Of course, but I promise you, she’s fine.”
“Well, let’s keep this between us for now. No sense in telling everyone about this when we won’t have answers to all the questions they’re sure to have.”
